Where is it?
Go ahead and
try the visualizer. If you have any trouble with the Java applet, you might try a
different browser. The TouchGraph applet also tends to work best in Java 1.4, although I haven't had any problems with 1.5 or 1.6.
Where did it come from?
Awhile back, Facebook had a way to "visualize" your friends, in the form of a graphic containing all of your friends and their interconnections. They've since removed this, likely because of the processing time needed to create it.
What can I do with it?
Since people with more connections end up closer together, the various social groups you're in become quite apparent. It's a neat way to see who you know and how they know one another.
How exactly does it work?
The magic is in the
TouchGraph GraphLayout applet -- it uses a
force-directed graph which clusters people together automatically. It's pretty clever.
